Military Defeat of the Tamil Tigers: From Velvet Glove to Iron Fist

• Main Author: Ong, Weichong
• Other Authors: S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
• Format: Commentary
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Political science
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/82463; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/40050
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The prevalent wisdom in Counterinsurgency (COIN) theory is that the ‘Iron-Fisted’ approach to defeating insurgencies is counter-productive. The recent success of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces (SLAF) suggests that under the right conditions, a decisive battlefield victory is possible. But will this tran...